'Super Mario Odyssey' Is Now The Fastest-Selling Mario Game Ever In The US

If Super Mario Odyssey wasn’t already one of the most impressive success stories of the year, Nintendo has announced that the game has set a new record.

As of this week, Super Mario Odyssey has sold 1.1 million copies in the five days since its release in the US. That makes it the fastest-selling Mario game of all time in the US, topping even the Wii’s New Super Mario Bros. back in 2009 when that console was a worldwide craze.

It is also the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch game so far, blowing even The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild out of the water, despite similarly high marks from critics and fans.

These new numbers join what we heard from Nintendo just a few days ago, when it was announced that in the first three days, Super Mario Odyssey had sold 2 million copies across 7.6 million Nintendo Switches, meaning that more than a quarter of all Switch owners bought the game almost immediately.

In this press release, Nintendo also touts the fact that Super Mario Odyssey is the best reviewed game on Metacritic in the past three years with its 97 score, tied only with Nintendo’s own Breath of the Wild, also out this year. The last non-Nintendo 97 on Metacritic was the remaster of Grand Theft Auto 5 in 2014. Besides that, no other game has reviewed that highly since 2010’s Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Super Mario OdysseyNintendo

“The public continues to respond positively to Mario’s latest adventure,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America’s President and COO. “We’re also seeing sales momentum for Nintendo Switch thanks to an ever-growing catalog of games from large publishers and indie developers.”

Reggie is almost understating Nintendo’s success right now, as it’s poised to have two must-have products for the holiday, the Switch and the SNES Classic, in addition to releasing the two best games of the year, or really the last few years. The only thing holding Nintendo back right now is supply, and once that picks up steam, we genuinely might see the Switch rival the Wii in the long term.

As for Mario? 1.1-2 million sale are great, but as I mentioned earlier this week, there are larger hills to climb:

“What are the high-water marks that Nintendo is shooting for with Super Mario Odyssey? Super Mario Bros sold 40 million copies, but I believe that includes remasters, plus it was in most bundles. The Wii’s New Super Mario Bros. sold 30 million copies. Super Mario Galaxy ended its run with about 13 million sales. And perhaps the most direct analogue to Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario 64, sold 12 million copies on N64.”

I easily see 20-30 million sales in the future for Super Mario Odyssey, cementing Mario’s iconic status as the video game hero that will probably exist until the end of time. And as the earth is consumed by our bloated, dying sun, Super Mario Infinity will be the best-selling game of the year with 300 billion copies sold.